Not Much New from Valeant (VRX) Investor Presentation - Mizuho

Mizuho Securities analyst Irina Koffler weighed in on Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) amid today's investor presentation.

Mr. Papa believes that Valeant has leading verticals in dermatology, GI, ophthalmology, and a $1.3B branded OTC business (which includes B&L products). He also emphasized the strength of the company's pipeline, which includes brodalumab for psoriasis, and Vesneo for glaucoma. He did, however, note there is still a lot of work required to improve patient access in the Walgreens program, which suggests that this initiative is off to a slower start and may not be accretive yet.

Mr. Papa's focus is to get in front of key internal/external stakeholders, advance the pipeline, and repay $1.5B in debt in 2016. He also intends to reduce complexity by divesting non-core assets in the U.S. and abroad.

Koffler take is that there was not much new.

"None of these updates are really new, in our view, and putting and we think the company is still in an extremely challenging predicament," she commented. "The Xifaxan HE initiative in particular is one that we view as generally futile, and note that this brand could weaken as Allergan's Viberzi gains traction in IBS-D. More interesting is the announcement of an FDA advisory panel this summer for brodalumab, a product whose safety database has been tainted by increased suicides (November PDUFA), which suggests increased regulatory risk. What is clear is that there are a number of divestitures ahead for the company that should lead to a lower top line in 2017. We still expect consensus numbers to come down and will update our model after the 1Q:16 earnings call (expected before June 10)."

The firm reiterated an Underperform rating and price target of $18 on VRX.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Valeant Pharmaceuticals click here. For more ratings news on Valeant Pharmaceuticals click here.

Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals closed at $27.47 yesterday.

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